High power losses are a great concern in operating electric distribution system. Reconfiguration is one of the most economic approaches for reducing power losses of the system. This study suggests a technique for dealing with the distribution system reconfiguration problem based on a water cycle algorithm for minimizing active power loss. The water cycle algorithm is a recently developed metaheuristic algorithm that inspired the process of water circulation for solving optimization problems. The effectiveness and performance of the water cycle algorithm were tested on the 33-node and 69-node systems. The water cycle algorithm was applied to determine the best configuration of the distribution system for active power loss minimization. The results yielded by the water cycle algorithm were compared with other optimization algorithms in the literature and the comparisons showed that the water cycle algorithm obtained good quality of solution for the problem. Therefore, the water cycle algorithm is the potential method for the distribution system reconfiguration problem.